₦airaland Forum

It's guys. There are cheating girls too though so its tough. . . But in general I think guys win in this case.

No. I second the gift receipt thing. But if the receipt has the price on it why should you give it to her. I know there may be some girls who like that kind of thing, i.e. to know how much you think they're worth (and by extension how much you're spending on them). . . but I think its tacky. Don't do it.

@Lita:
Wait are you using the Baking Soda to clarify. I mean I guess what I'm asking is: what does the Baking Soda do? And do you use it everytime you wash?

@ThiefOfHearts:

I used to get the CON detangling shampoo too till they turned it into the orange and yellow bottle. I didn't even know you could still get it. Thanks for letting me know. I'll go back to it once my Honey Shampoo is finished. Much as I love the Body Shop one, the CON is definitely cheaper and I used to really like it.

@ oyinda

I do the ACV rinse at the last stage after I finished washing and deep conditioning etc as my final rinse. (Some people do it right after shampooing b4 conditioning but because to me I think since the ACV smooths the cuticle of the hair, it might make absorbing conditioner more difficult). My mixture is 3 Tablespoons of ACV to 1 cup of water. So you can multiply that depending on how much water you're using. Some people do another rinse with plain water after the ACV rinse but I don't. Don't worry your hair won't smell vinegary once its dry.

Personally I don't use it to clarify even though I'm sure it takes care of build up too (to really get rid of build up I use Nexxus Aloe Rid like I said or at a pinch I might use an SLS shampoo like Suave which really strips the ish out of the hair). For me ACV rinses reduce tangling, make the hair look smoother and shinier (because it closes the cuticle), and that's why I do it. Also it returns the hair to its normal acidic state which means the hair is less stressed and less likely to break.

Battlefield- Jordin Sparks

Lita:
I didn't really explain much, sorry- silicones aren't bad in themselves, more that I try to use mild shampoos (Sulfate free) which do not remove silicones, leading to build up.  I'm sure they are actually good for relaxed hair as they coat the strand (I believe). They're in so many conditioners, so they can be quite hard to avoid.

I also use baking soda in my shampoo once in a while to remove all build up, and if my hair's feeling tangly I use a heavily diluted apple cider vinegar to rinse my hair. Sounds weird, but it makes my hair extremely smooth.

As far as parabens, they're supposed to be carcinogenic.  I'm not greatly bothered by them, but they tend to not to appear in the products I use anyway. 

I used to do oil rinsing with evoo but I recently happened on the dilute apple cider vinegar rinses and I do them too and vastly prefer them, the oil rinsing made the hair a little limp but the ACV definitely helps give a smoother finish and I think helps with breakage too especially for pple like me who are relaxed which can make hair alkaline and more prone to breakage, I think the ACV also neutralizes the hair or something (maybe I'm making that up but it makes sense to me and I think I saw it somewhere and I do notice less breakage).

As for shampooing I go periods where I try to avoid the sulfates (SLS in particular) too mostly because they definitely contribute to that straw super dry and frizzy look for me, so I like the Body Shop's Honey shampoo for chemically-treated/damaged hair or for claryfying  I use Nexxus Aloe Rid which is also sulphate free. The only problem I have with sulphate-free shampoos is that they don't lather as well as the ones with the SLS. So you tend to use more of them in my opinion than you do with regular SLS shampoo. Do you find that baking soda helps with that?

Lita:
@Tatase 
that's how my hair looked when I transitioned!  the only thing I wonder is do you get a lot of breakage? a lot of people who treat hair that's part relaxed, part natural in the same way find it breaks at the point between two textures.
 

i've found natural/natural based products, with no silicones, parabens or petro-chemicals work best for me.   a lot of 'black' products are full of these ingredients with add a false shine, but i find they strangle my hair and make it hard.  i'd rather have fluffy, soft hair than shiny, greasy hair.

I'm not transitioning, I transitioned for 8 months 2 yrs ago and then realized that I'm not hair talented enough to go natural once I felt my actual natural hair. I relax my hair usually every 8-10 weeks to minimize overprocessing. But my hair is somewhat relaxer-resistant so it comes out somewhere between texlaxed and relaxed (more relaxed than texlaxed though). My hair just looks like the girl's in the picture when I airdry without leave-ins and tying down (as I described in the method somewhere above yesterday) and then it breaks because its so tangled. With the new method and moisturizing twice a day, I'm not having much of a problem with breakage at all.

I agree about the petrochemicals (mineral oil particularly), I find they cause breakage. I've found no real problems with parabens but I've heard they're bad so I try to avoid them when possible. Silicone (as in hair serums/polishers/glossers) I actually like, I think it smooths the cuticle of the hair and improves the appearance of split ends and reduces frizz (for me anyway), but I only use those products on wet hair on wash days about 2ce a week, so its not an everyday thing at all.

FL Gators:
Thats your hair? I loveeeeeeeeeeeeee it!! Fabulous

The good thing about puffy hair is that it can look messy and still look gorgeous.

I rec. some products on page 1/2 (which  I asked around NL b4 I knew about them ), try them. They're real nice.

OMG. . . Its so messy and random like a crazy person and it tangles really easily (see the ball of frizz at the roots) so when you fight it enough to get a comb through your hair breaks. I don't think I'm . . .  whatstheword. . . edgy? enough to carry off crazyperson hair. I hate blowdrying my hair because why add heat damage to chemical damage from relaxing? But I'm glad I've found a way to tame that ish without heat.

That's not me o by the way. Its a random youtube chick but that's how my hair looks when it airdries without help.

As for the products you listed:
I love the Organics Hair Mayo and the LeKair (or sometimes Queen Helene) Cholesterol. They're weekly staples. My hair for some reason reacted really badly (can you say breakage) to Cantu Shea Butter (and come to think of it another shea butter cream I used a while ago) so I never tried any of the other Cantu products. I like the Neutrogena Triple Moisture line and Aphogee is good for breakage too. Castor oil is also good for thicker hair or at least the illusion of thicker hair, I'm not sure which: anyway point being it makes your hair feel thicker. So if you're into big hair, try that.

FL Gators:
Puffy is what am dying for

We should exchange hair. My hair is pretty relaxer-resistant so even when its wet its curly/wavy. Just letting it airdry it afros itself out but not even in a good way, its a random mixture of straight and curly like a birds nest and totally uncombable. Ok picture something like this (stolen from a youtube video) but with a few more curly bits and a bit frizzier. This is pretty much my hair airdried usually. . . i.e. birdsnest roots and straightish ends hanging off,

Ok so I've been trying to reduce the amount of heat I put into my hair by airdrying my hair when I wash it, but as most of you who have ever let your hair just dry from wet know, it comes out frizzy and poofy. But I recently found some products that are really excellent and help my airdried hair come out straight as if I just blowdried it:

Ok once I've towel dried my hair I spray Elasta QP H-Two Leave-in on my hair line and the ends of my hair, then I sprayed some Aphogee Keratin and Green Tea Reconstructurizer (this one is optional but I do it to help with breakage), and then I work Neutrogena Triple Moisture Silk Touch Leave in Cream (this one is so good that really you could probably get away with just using this as your leave-in) throught the hair from roots to tips and finish with Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum (or Garnier Fructis Brillantine Shine Glistening Drops). After that I comb the hair to the back, smooth the front and then tie a do-rag or scarf over it tight and wait for it to dry. When you take the scarf off, its not frizzy at all and feels soft and smooth like you just relaxed your hair even though I'm a little over 2 months since I last relaxed my hair.

Once it's dry I just found the best moisturizer/ hair cream (whether or not you blowdry your hair). It's Wave Nouveau Moisturizing Finishing Lotion. It's pretty excellent.


Also I saw someone mentioned nappturality, its good but some other really good hair sites that I find really helpful are forum.blackhairmedia.com (which can be a little overwhelming but has a lot of info); hairlicious..com (is a little less intense), and on youtube there are two girls (well two that I find most helpful): hairliciousinc and macheriehair have many really helpful videos.

SeanT21:
Stick with your natural color. I hate when Blacks wear blue contacts.

I agree completely!!!!!!!!!!

If you must get a color though, stick to a brown color. Certainly nothing lighter than hazel. No blues or greens or light greys.

If you're not necessarily after the super shiny glossy look, another thing you can do is buy a lipstick color you like, rub it on your finger and apply it to your lips using your finger as if you're lip balm so that it comes off like a lipstain and puts some color on your lips and then go over it with lip balm/ chapstick or whatever. That way your lips have color/tint and moisture. This is the way I do it because lip gloss always makes my lips feel odd after a while, and lipstick by itself from the tube looks too much like paint. . .

It changes depending on where I am and the season, and sometimes my skin gets used to one thing and stops responding. But the one thing I keep coming back to is Vaseline Cocoa Butter Deep Conditioning Body Lotion. It smells vaguely chocolatey but not in that typically nasty traditional cocoa butter way and certainly not enough to become annoying. And more than that it makes the skin really smooth and prevents ashy-ness for more than 24hrs, I can vouch for that. And its also has a good consistency, not at all greasy or too oily.

To me o it looks like she's wearing a lace front wig that has just been attached in a very wack manner. In fact I'm fairly sure because in the 1st pic, I can see where the lacefront meets her forhead. He hairline seems to be a little far back but nothing out of the ordinary. I think the baldness effect is from someone overplucking her lace front wig to get more of a parting to give a more natural look; I've seen it happen. She obviously needs to consult Beyonce's weavologist. 

Recognise:
[size=16pt]Gay Madonna impersonator pulls in the crowds[/size]

A Chilean gay man who became obsessed with Madonna after hearing her music as a boy is now earning tens of thousands of pounds impersonating the star.

Elias Figueroa, 28, now performs for crowds of up to 20,000 people and says he is mobbed on the street by adoring fans.

He said: "I heard 'Like a Virgin' and it totally blew me away. "Madonna was so naughty, so sexy and unorthodox she broke the rules and I wanted to know everything about her."

Elias Figueroa
goes by the stage name Carolina Bailey

Figueroa, [who earns $12,000 a year (equivalent to £50,000) impersonating the star, added: "I live the life of a superstar. Strangers flock to me, tell me they love me and even try to grab my bum.

"I'm so good at playing Madonna, some people can't tell the difference between me and the real thing they don't even realise I'm a man."

for SOURCE: Click here

Please on a serious note, where can one find this magical exchange rate?!?

tpia.:
he looks exactly like madonna too.

He DOES looks like Madonna but then the way Madonna has worked herself out into all muscle and tendon, SHE looks like a man. . .

I don't really see the resemblance. Maybe a teeny bit in the MBGN winning blue dress with that awful blue eye shadow but even then not really really.

Not that she's not fine, she just doesn't to me look like Rihanna.

Her fiance doesn't seem to see anything wrong with it, which leads me to believe that he's probably made a huge investment buying that pair and he wants to show it off.

You don't buy a big house and hide it behind a curtain, no, you proudly display it to all your friends and family. 

iice:
[color=#9900ff]Lmao @ hypochondriac. 
He sort of ended up with Cuddy (for a day) but by then he was already loosing his mind.
Can't wait for season 6 to start.[/color]

Wait in terms of them hooking up are you talking about the end of season 5? Because when I watched that one and thought that he hallucinated it.

russellino:
The best song in years- ''how to save a life'' by the fray

I agree. That's one of my favourite songs.

@ topic:

Marina Gasolina- Bonde do Role

iice:
[color=#9900ff]Because he makes the show. Sure some of the medical conditions are fascinating, but he; Dr. Gregory House is the most fascinating thing to watch

One of my favorite episodes is the 'Ultimate woman is a man' - In season one.[/color]

I used to follow House religiously. . . then I realized it was making me a hypochondriac and so now I watch only occasionally to see if/when he'll end up with Cuddy, but yeah Hugh Laurie and his wack accent ARE the best part of the show . . . Dr. House is just so likeably unlikeable!!!

@ watever,

Yeah I love it!!! I just found it really recently and I'm really excited about it. I've watched the 1st 2 seasons already and I'm on the 3rd right now. It IS just like a british BBT.

I hadn't heard of the Inbetweeners but I just wikipedia'd it and it looks really interesting. I'll check it out. Thanks!

I do find Lafayette quite annoying actually. . . it's like I get it you're hypersexual and speak your mind and you're hot ok whatever . . . To put it in Lafayette-speak: I'm kind of over his gay black ass. With Eric, I think I'm just a little disappointed because he was more. . .whatstheword. . . just "MORE" in the books, so with him you might be right. I agree about Tara, the girl needs a chill pill.

The House Bunny

Make It or Break It
The IT Crowd
CSI Miami
(A Lot of Reality TV: So You Think You Can Dance, Top Chef Masters, The Fashion Show etc)
True Blood (all the hype finally infected me and yes its a good show- the books are better though. but the show IS hottt!!!: I'm not a fan of Jason or Sam or Tara or Lafayette or Eric (who really is not as hot as you all have been saying),  I only like maybe Sookie,  oh ok and Pam, and Bill is manageable).

Don't Trust Me- 3Oh!3
Brighter than Sunshine- Aqualung

Consultant:
I guess this show is not so popular but I love it. I loved his solo yesterday night: http://www.geeksugar.com/3465822

I know right? OMG that flip he did was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!!!!!! I watched his solo over and over last week too. I miss him and Melissa dancing together but the hip-hop routine he did this week with the short salsa girl was really good. I didn't enjoy his solo as much as last week but it was still good. What did you think of the boys group "African Dance?"

On Top of the World- The Pussycat Dolls

Moi Lolita - Alizee

Some of the people I agree are funny e.g. Nkechi/Nkem/Morenike suddenly becoming Nicky or Kiki or Nnenna becoming Nina or my "personal favourite" Mobolaji becoming La-la.

Most of it I think is mostly people trying to fit in.

However I think a lot of it is to make it easy for the general public. When my brother moved to secondary school he started answering his English name because he was tired of people murdering the pronounciation. And this was in Nigeria. But we're not Yoruba/Igbo/Hausa so we don't have names that most Nigerians are accustomed to. I've had the same problem both in Naij but using my English name didn't work for me because I kept forgetting to respond to it when called so I reverted back to my traditional name and just manage it like that with people.

Baby Baby Baby- Joss Stone

Adverts have influenced me definitely to buy things especially personal and household hygiene things like body lotion, hair products, deodorant, detergent, or even kitchen cleaner.

And the funny thing is that when I'm influenced I'm usually persuaded to buy something I'm not even in the market for. E.g. I'm very satisfied with my body lotion and my deodorant, I like them and recommend them highly but then I was reading about another lotion in a magazine and I'd been seeing this new deodorant advert and then I saw  them at the store on Friday and got them. I don't know why. Especially when I was already happy with what I had. I think maybe adverts convince you that you can have better and we all always want better.

I have to admit I've been punished a few times for some of my buys. Eg. when I was a child, I loved the Joy soap adverts and convinced my mother to start buying it; unfortunately I reacted to it and it gave me serious rashes and eczema, meanwhile I'd been using Pears prior to that no problem. (That experience made me lose my faith in Nigerian beauty product ads).  On the other hand I've also had good experiences. The body lotion I've been using I found through an advert and it WAS better than the one I had been using before.